It is true that consultants are the gatekeepers of many funds. That doesn't mean that a money manager's marking efforts should be predominately focused on consultants. Such a strategy could be ill-advised for a number of reasons:
1. Consultants aren't used by nearly 50% of corporate funds, 25% of the public funds and 37% of endowments and foundations. Money managers would be ignoring billions of dollars of potential assets by over-emphasizing marketing to consultants.
2. Consultants may not fairly evaluate every manager and may be prone to favor certain managers. You may be better off stating your case directly to a fund that through an intermediary.
3. Consultants are barraged by managers seeking to be included in searches and, as a result, a manager may have to go to extraordinary lengths to get a consultant's attention.
Also, the degree of influence the consultant has in the search process varies greatly from plan sponsor to plan sponsor. Accordingly, we highly recommend that investment managers always seek to establish relationships with plan sponsors directly, as well as with consultants.
Setting Standards For The Investment Management Industry
